Dell PowerStore Reviews

My use cases for Dell PowerStore typically involve consolidating older storage and bringing the future of storage to our customers. Because we are a Dell partner, I sell a lot of Dell PowerStore storage, especially to modernize their infrastructure and consolidate workloads on a modern infrastructure based on Kubernetes. Dell PowerStore fits perfectly in the modern IT landscape, especially with AI. 

We talk about AI, and Dell PowerStore fits perfectly for our customers, enabling a variety of user workflows and customer workflows. For manufacturing, Dell PowerStore is perfect because it empowers and speeds up their jobs, providing future-ready storage. 

One of our customers uses Dell PowerStore for AI, which is currently still in study, aiming to develop an autonomous agent to capture payment. This system will implement a responsive AI agent based for each store, which needs to react quickly, and Dell PowerStore provides the low latency needed for such use cases, supporting not just one shop station but potentially thousands, handling large amounts of data and logs.

Customers see benefits from implementing Dell PowerStore, as it significantly speeds up their workloads. When we change the repository for our data and speed up the workload, including applications and databases, our virtual environment or private cloud speeds up. Everything about the work done in the company speeds up, from the warehouse to the offices, and every part of the company improves.

For me and my customers, the most valuable features of Dell PowerStore are the data reduction and scalability. The data reduction of 5:1 with the latest version of the software is very good because it saves a lot of money and space, allowing us to use the budget for other things. 

Another valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is its scalability, as you can add one drive at a time to grow without having to purchase multiple drives.

Connectivity is another notable feature; you can use many PCIe cards to connect to the back end. With AI and the push for faster workflows, we need to integrate 100 Gigabit cards and faster switches. Additionally, because it operates within a broader ecosystem, Dell PowerStore is very compatible with various systems, including SAP and Oracle, enhancing speed and latency for numerous use cases. I believe Dell PowerStore fits 90% of companies and meets their storage needs.

In terms of improvement for Dell PowerStore, I think data mobility is crucial. A compelling feature would be seamless mobility of data without disruption, from local storage to the cloud. It would be much easier if Dell PowerStore implemented this form of data mobility. Currently, migrating from one model to another is not very straightforward, although it's on the roadmap. Upgrading an old model to a new one can be complex, particularly when using VMware.

I do not give it a ten because other storage solutions may offer better features. For instance, Dell acquired a company called Compellent, which had a feature called live migration, allowing multiple storage-to-storage transfers, including three hops. With Dell PowerStore, you can only replicate data between two storages systems, needing a separate appliance for more complex replication, which competitors like NetApp or Pure Storage provide as built-in features. I suggest this capability be considered for future development, alongside enhancements to data security and analysis.

I have been using Dell PowerStore for about five years.

My role in using or implementing Dell PowerStore is to design the infrastructure and analyze where it fits, considering the needs of the customer. We sell a solution that perfectly fits what the customer needs, as Dell has a lot of tools to implement the right solution. Before we sell a product, we conduct thorough analysis and discuss it with our customers, which makes them happy because we provide documentation containing all necessary parameters. We explain why they need to invest in such enterprise storage, and typically our work involves analysis, selling the storage, and empowering the customer's company.

Considering ROI for customers using Dell PowerStore, the cost is important, especially with the more affordable prices of the PowerStore 500 model. The lifecycle of the product is significant, and sometimes the renewal of maintenance costs more than a new product. Thus, the product lifecycle should ideally cost less.

We started working with the first generation Dell PowerStore in 2020, and our customers are already migrating to the second generation. Dell PowerStore is currently at version 4.0, and new features are released every six months. It is Kubernetes-based storage, so it's not disruptive to upgrade the firmware; every time we update the firmware, we have new features, and our customers are very happy.

It's a long partnership since Dell initially focused solely on servers. Now, they are a powerhouse offering everything from servers to storage and clients, presenting significant opportunities for business discussions. 

I rate Dell PowerStore a nine out of ten.

My usual use cases for Dell PowerStore include LUN creation for particular servers such as VMware and AIX servers.

I am working as a storage admin for a company in the banking insurance sector where Dell PowerStore has been installed, and I am providing service for this company. I am a consultant.

I am using two appliances of Dell PowerStore, which are PS5200 and PS3400. I am not clustering multiple Dell PowerStore appliances. 

Dell PowerStore is GUI-based applications storage. It is easy to use and understand, making storage management tasks such as provisioning and reclaim activity quite manageable.

Dell PowerStore has helped me improve operational efficiency, particularly for a small project where I manage a limited number of servers, making it very easy to handle applications with lower IOPS, especially since we use Oracle on the back-end for some of the LUNs. 

Dell PowerStore is suitable for consolidating data in mid-segment companies where it handles small applications and there are not many IOPS required. The ability to add capacity in single drive increments for Dell PowerStore is important for organizations that frequently need to extend their storage based on capacity requirements.

The compression is good, and we have also enabled deduplication to function automatically. This means that any files already stored will not be retained again.

The most valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is the one that allows for auto replication, which I have enabled, as well as the auto snapshot feature that has been newly introduced to Dell PowerStore, where we can schedule snapshots on a weekly basis. 

Some areas of Dell PowerStore that could be improved include reporting features, such as performance reports, which are lacking compared to VMAX and PowerMax. For instance, with VMAX and PowerMax, you can access detailed reports that show Input/Output (IO) operations, read and write metrics, and response times for specific storage groups. You can monitor IOPS and latency metrics for particular ports, and view heat maps for visualization. Unfortunately, these types of reports don't seem to be available in PowerStore.

Additionally, if a customer reports latency issues, such as the OS team mentions they're experiencing delays from a specific LUN, we lack sufficient options to investigate those reports in Dell PowerStore.On VMAX and PowerMax, we have Unisphere as a tool to check performance metrics. In contrast, PowerStore lacks such a feature, from my perspective.

I have been working with Dell PowerStore for the last one year.

Dell PowerStore is stable and reliable. It has been effectively used for many years.

It is easy to enhance Dell PowerStore by scaling up and scaling out as needed, by adding new devices and extending the storage pool accordingly.

I often communicated with Dell PowerStore's technical support to address requirements such as enabling SyncIQ. My impression of the technical support team is that they are effective and understand our problems well, solving them promptly within the SLA. I would rate the technical support provided for Dell PowerStore as more than six. I don't think there's anything missing in the technical support; they deliver the help we expect.

Neutral

Dell PowerStore is deployed on-premises in my customer's local data center. I was not involved in its deployment.

My experience with CloudIQ has been limited; I have seen health check reports, and the Dell team gets alerts if there are any issues on the storage side. 

In terms of integration, I have connected VMware with Dell PowerStore, and it is good for managing storage from the ESXi host. 

I would rate Dell PowerStore an eight out of ten.

My use case for Dell PowerStore is for database information and database protection.

Dell PowerStore has helped me address challenges in my organization. The old storage was too slow, while with this storage, we can recover the information very fast.

The most valuable feature of Dell PowerStore is the speed. The speed of information and the ability to recover information are exceptional. 

To be honest, I don't think I could improve Dell PowerStore..

I've used the solution for about four years. 

When comparing the stability and reliability of Dell PowerStore to the old storage, the old storage never worked properly. This solution is more stable from that standpoint. 

The scalability of Dell PowerStore is very good. It's easy to expand. Though I'm not a technician, we have added more memory twice.

I have never worked with the customer service support for Dell PowerStore.

Positive

I previously used HPE, though I don't know which specific product.

Dell PowerStore is a very expensive storage solution. That said, the speed for recovering information is amazing. I would make the product cheaper. The discounts from Dell to South America are not sufficient because we need better pricing. 

The discounts for small PowerStores are not enough to close deals since I'm a distributor. As both a user and seller, it's challenging to sell Dell PowerStore to the channel or final customers because we don't have enough discount from Dell. We need to find deals worth a million or higher, and in my country, I have never sold a Dell PowerStore worth one million dollars.

I did not evaluate other solutions besides HPE because we are distributors of both Dell and HPE. The other vendors didn't have suitable storage solutions for us.

I am only a user of Dell PowerStore. 

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Dell PowerStore a ten. It's working now, and I never find problems with this storage.

I work with Dell PowerStore for our key VMware environment. Dell PowerStore is easy to set up, and we have experienced no issues thus far. It works well, and we have achieved the performance we were looking for. It is quite scalable for our environment, and the VMware integration is also available.

We are using Dell PowerStore 5200T model with almost 500 terabyte capacity, and we have almost four appliances.

We have been able to consolidate data to a certain extent using Dell PowerStore. From a couple of storages, we were able to consolidate them into Dell PowerStore, so consolidation was achieved.

I have not experienced any crashes, downtimes, performance issues, or stability issues with Dell PowerStore. However, I think the upgrade process could take some time, and if it becomes faster, it would be helpful.

Dell PowerStore has helped to reduce our organization's CAPEX, capital expenditures, to some extent. I would not say completely, but we are able to consolidate to reduce it.

The ability to add capacity in single drive increments versus drive packs is not very important for us because these enhancements typically do not happen at that level. It may be important for some other organizations, but not for us.

The initial setup and onboarding process of Dell PowerStore was straightforward.

The powerful features of Dell PowerStore include its unified architecture, which offers scalability, and the NVMe support that enhances performance. The data resiliency and cybersecurity features such as immutable snapshots and multi-factor authentication are crucial for data safety.

Dell PowerStore's workload performance is robust, supported by NVMe, ensuring no issues with performance. Reliability is critical, and Dell PowerStore is dependable with no major issues.

For those looking for reliable storage that works well with most workloads, and if they are part of the Dell ecosystem or looking to consolidate storage with good performance, then Dell PowerStore is a suitable option.

The management capabilities of Dell PowerStore, especially in terms of ease of use, are excellent.

The built-in integrations of Dell PowerStore with different ecosystems including VMware, Kubernetes, and containers make configuration easy, enhancing productivity.

We are not clustering multiple Dell PowerStore appliances currently because we are spread across geographies in different locations.

The support for Dell PowerStore is similar to others; not too extraordinary, but acceptable. It could be better, approximately a six out of ten.

Apart from the upgrading process and technical support, these are the main areas of Dell PowerStore that I would like to see improved or enhanced in the future.

There is nothing particular that comes to mind as a missing feature for Dell PowerStore.

I have been working with Dell PowerStore for three or four years, since the different iterations have been coming.

I have not experienced any crashes, downtimes, performance issues, or stability issues with Dell PowerStore. However, I think the upgrade process could take some time, and if it becomes faster, it would be helpful.

Dell PowerStore is easy to set up, and we have experienced no issues thus far. It works well, and we have achieved the performance we were looking for. It is quite scalable for our environment, and the VMware integration is also available.

The main benefits I have seen from using Dell PowerStore include its unified architecture, which provides scalability. We have not scaled it yet, but there is scalability available, which is useful.

The support for Dell PowerStore is similar to others; I would say not too extraordinary, but acceptable. It could be better, approximately a six out of ten.

I have partially switched from NetApp to Dell PowerStore because a portion of NetApp is still in use.

The initial setup and onboarding process of Dell PowerStore was straightforward.

I was involved in the deployment aspect, and my experience with the deployment of Dell PowerStore was that it was easy. Since we already had experience with other Dell products, it was quite familiar for us, and it was smooth.

For some things, we use Dell professional services for the deployment of Dell PowerStore. The rest we do ourselves.

The benefits from Dell PowerStore have been present in terms of ROI, mainly because of consolidation, which saves on power and provides a benefit in terms of ROI.

Dell PowerStore has helped to reduce our organization's CAPEX, capital expenditures, to some extent. I would not say completely, but we are able to consolidate to reduce it.

I would say we have reduced CAPEX by around ten percent, not more than that.

The pricing aspect of Dell PowerStore is comparable to others; I would not say that anyone is too cheap or too costly in this context. It is certainly equivalent to others.

The Dell ecosystem is huge, and if you are in their server, storage, compute, and everything, it makes sense because the integration is good. In other ecosystems or storages, there are multiple stakeholders, and sometimes it becomes difficult while troubleshooting things.

Reliability is the most impactful feature of Dell PowerStore for my organization. It works well, with no issues at all, and that is very important.

Dell PowerStore's compression and deduplication technologies are important for us, but I would say they provide a good amount of deduplication or compression, although it is not something groundbreaking or very extraordinary. It is decent.

We are looking to address specific challenges or goals by implementing Dell PowerStore, such as security features including immutable snapshots, using the AIOps features more to take corrective action when required, and reducing operational efforts with AIOps.

I do use Apex AIOps, also known as CloudIQ, with Dell PowerStore, but I would say we do not use it much. I know it is very useful, but we do not use it much.

The insights offered by Apex AIOps are insightful, and I would say we have not explored all the features thus far.

I have been working in my current field as a solution architect or technical architect for the last twenty-four years.

We are a customer of Dell, and for some use cases, we have also resold it, so we could be considered a reseller in some capacity.

I am still with LTI Mindtree as a practice lead for storage and backup.

I rate Dell PowerStore as a product and solution an eight out of ten.

As a reseller and Dell-only reseller partner organization, I have a number of customers who are currently using Dell PowerStore. It's a solution that we find is a great solution in the market. When Dell PowerStore first came to the market, a lot of our clients had VxRail with the convergence offering that Dell had. However, now with the Broadcom split from Dell with the VMware licensing, we're finding that with having Dell PowerStore with the AX nodes and the OEM Dell VMware solution built in, it's providing a very comprehensive solution to our customers. That's really helping us grow. We certainly find Dell PowerStore to be one of the best products out there in the market in terms of use cases for a lot of our customers across the board.

Because Dell PowerStore is built in with the all-flash and the NVMe platforms and the United offering it has with the single architecture for block, files, and the virtual volumes, it provides functionality and flexible functionality for our customers. They can use Dell PowerStore for various use cases. We've got customers in FinTech, in manufacturing, and in different industries as well. It's not really just suited for one type of industry; it can be used for many types of organizations.

We're in conversations with several organizations about using Dell PowerStore for AI initiatives. AI is obviously something that's more prevalent in the market and growing. We recently had a customer who had an 82-node VxRail. They had a refresh earlier in the year. Now they have Dell PowerStore with AX nodes. They have a cyber recovery solution as well, an air gap solution with a clean room. They're looking at how they can make their supply chain more efficient since they produce manufactured kitchens. A lot of it is learning what AI is capable of doing for their business and trying to see the benefits. We tend to find that FinTech organizations and companies doing trading are more interested in that type of technology. As AI matures, we will see more use cases for them.

Being a Dell-only organization, I have been working with Dell PowerStore from the concept when it first came out, replacing the Unity devices and becoming more of the go-to-market. We've been working on it from day one. We've got customers with quite a lot of data on Dell PowerStore, quite large organizations that are carrying hundreds and hundreds of terabytes of data. It's fantastic, and the customers find it very easy to use. We've not had any complaints around it being a difficult product in terms of simplicity and use. It's been great.

The fact that Dell PowerStore has cloud integration really helps. Many of our customers have hybrid cloud environments where they're holding data on-site, but also they push some of the data up into the cloud. Having that cloud integration is really useful for us. The business continuity and disaster recovery features provide robust data protection capability, including snapshotting and replication for both planned and unplanned downtime. Mixed workloads are also supported, including Microsoft SQL servers and container-based applications.

The ease of use is significant. Dell PowerStore has one GUI in terms of how to use it. It integrates very well with the data protection suites and the cybersecurity side. It's a storage platform that allows efficient data access and makes upgrades very easy to do. In the past, with a three-tier system, it was very difficult to do everything in silo, whereas with Dell PowerStore, upgrades, management, and maintenance are very easy.

With the anytime upgrade options that Dell PowerStore has, it really fits and suits our customers. They can upgrade anytime they want and add extra capacity without having the constraints of acquiring a different solution or re-architecting the environment.

What would make it perfect is addressing the occasional lack of continuity with consultants who are on projects for five to six weeks regarding Dell PowerStore. With any type of support, there will always be some types of breakage. We find the support very easy to access and helpful. A recent customer reported that the support representative was completely dedicated to helping them. The support representative was almost emotionally invested in the problem. There are some excellent technical professionals in the team who are dedicated to resolving issues.

Information regarding performance metrics or benchmarks used to measure success with Dell PowerStore is not available.

Dell PowerStore is a very reliable product that our customers love. In the early days, there were some challenges with the new product, but it's now a very mature product that works really well. When Dell PowerStore is implemented properly and integrated within a customer environment, it performs as expected. We've always had confidence with the product.

We handle deployment of Dell PowerStore as one of the highest certified Dell partners in the UK. Our success has been driven by our delivery capabilities. We've won numerous awards, including EMEA Services Partner last year. Our deployment expertise is why customers choose us. We understand the products thoroughly, can drive solution value, and implement it within networks, bringing in different applications. Our implementation skills are highly certified on these products.

Being a Dell partner for the last 12 years, we know who to contact when our customers have problems with Dell PowerStore. We've built personal relationships with teams, line managers, and senior people, which helps us get things done for our customers. Dell is a large organization that serves many customers, but we're fortunate to know who to call when issues arise. Our managed service team is very technical and can fix most problems. When customers need to contact Dell, we maintain the relationship and handle it on their behalf as part of our services.

Positive

We have seen return on investment from selling Dell PowerStore. We see significant customer loyalty towards the brand and solution. A customer we met last week who has Dell PowerStore stated that they love the solution because it works and does what they need it to do. They can sleep peacefully at night knowing it will perform without issues. This gives us customer retention and loyalty back to us as a solution provider, having full confidence that when we sell this to a customer, we can guarantee it will work and meet their needs.

I would advise potential users to definitely conduct a POC with Dell PowerStore and examine the product. It is a very comprehensive solution with capabilities that are superior to many other vendors. Dell has hundreds of case studies available for reference. Testing the product would make it difficult to choose another vendor's solution. I rate Dell PowerStore a 10 out of 10.

I use Dell PowerStore for an application. In my last work at B3, we bought Dell PowerStore for a specific corporate back-end, back-office solution for one application to solve problems with the service desk. We created some LUNs for a SQL Server and presented them to some Microsoft Windows Clusters using Dell PowerStore, but we don't use remote replication for Dell PowerStore; it's in a single, specific solution for an application attending a SQL Server.

The solution is implemented in finance. B3 is the Brazilian stock exchange, and all the solutions I worked on there for the last 15 years were in finance.

It reduces the time and complexity of the deployment process. It’s quite simple and can be done quickly. I believe it has significantly reduced the time required to deploy. Overall, the deployment process is very straightforward.

I really appreciate the management and the management console of Dell PowerStore along with features such as deduplication. It's good and sufficient.

Additionally, it's very easy and simple to use Dell PowerStore for moving and optimizing workloads within the cluster. It's just to provision the LUNs for the cluster. If we have a virtual environment like VMware, we can easily perform storage migration from a source disk to a target disk. This process allows us to transfer data seamlessly. In my previous jobs, we typically utilized tools such as Open Replicator, which is provided by Dell EMC, to move data between Dell EMC storage systems.

Furthermore, Dell's post-sales support is strong and very good.

If Dell PowerStore had more controllers, making it more reliable and resilient, it would be better. The most important thing for the customer is resilience and business continuity. When we have a failure in one controller and only two controllers, that's not good enough. If we could scale Dell PowerStore to four controllers, it would be better than what we have today.

I have worked with Dell EMC for more than 15 years, and also HPE, including 3PAR.

Dell's post-sales support is very strong and good. I trust in Dell's post-sales support. I would rate them a ten out of ten.

Positive

I have experience with NetApp storage solutions, hybrid NetApp, all-flash storage systems, and Hitachi models such as USPV and VSP, but my strong knowledge is with Dell EMC, PowerMax solutions, PowerFlex, VXRail, and hyper-converged infrastructure solutions.

I have deployed Dell PowerStore just once, but I have deployed many other products such as PowerMax 200, PowerMax 8000, and others. I have deployed a lot of high-end storage platforms from EMC and Dell EMC including DMX series.

I deployed it on-premises; the model is 500T. It was very simple and easy to do. I particularly really appreciate using the Apex AIOps or the CloudIQ solution from Dell EMC as it allows me to observe all the metrics and telemetrics from the performance through the SAS portal, which I think is very good for knowing about the workloads and how the equipment is working.

When it comes to Dell solutions, I find PowerMax to be the most comprehensive option. It offers a range of features such as remote replication, security snapshots, immutable security snapshots, and SRDF capabilities—both synchronous and asynchronous. It also includes features like chip copy disk mode, deduplication, peak provisioning, and effective data reduction. There are some similarities between the two, but PowerMax has several advantages. It comes with more controllers and greater resiliency, making it better suited for critical mission environments.

I would rate Dell PowerStore an eight out of ten.

My position is a solution consultant, so I promote Dell PowerStore products or recommend the products to customers. 

Most applications or workloads can fit within Dell PowerStore, except for file serving or surveillance solutions, which require less extensive storage. 

It's the best mid-range storage on the market. It gives users the ability to scale in the future if they need to. 

The clustering feature of Dell PowerStore allows users to federate or cluster several appliances to work as single storage, which is a unique approach. 

The feature of integrated AI and machine learning enhances the usage and operations of the storage, making it one of the key features of Dell PowerStore.

Dell PowerStore has a unique deduplication and compression ratio compared to others in the market, which always comes in our favor when sizing Dell PowerStore against competitors. The deduplication can achieve up to 20X from the original storage capacity.

The pricing point must have better positioning. It is somewhat expensive compared to the competition. 

Another improvement would be to open the integrations with other vendors. Dell has unique integrations with their backup appliances; however, if they open this for other vendors, it might be a better solution for customers since they wouldn't have to purchase a Dell product for backup to have this integration with the storage. 

These two points should have enhancements.

I have been using the solution for three and a half years, since its release about three or four years ago.

We have not faced major issues with the support for Dell PowerStore.

In general, my clients use one appliance per site.

As a primary storage, it has all the features that our customers need, with only minor tweaks or enhancements needed here and there.

I'm also aware of Pure Storage. It is very similar.

The process is simple. It takes half an hour to 45 minutes to set up all the storage and go live with production data. Most implementations we do are on-prem.

Dell PowerStore receives about two or three updates per year, including software updates and firmware updates, which add new features and enhance performance without changing the hardware.

It saves money in the design of the product and solution. Users don't have to change products across their data center lifetime or projects. They can scale within the box regardless of workload or business requirements, saving the hassle of migration to a new solution. This saves money in the long run.

I compare it with Pure Storage, which is the most comparable solution to Dell PowerStore in the market nowadays.

I promote and recommend Dell PowerStore for all workloads to my clients and customers.

Most of my customers have one appliance per site. Approximately 80% of my customers have Dell PowerStore implemented in their data centers.

We always use CLS as another Dell solution for cybersecurity and data security. The CLS is integrated with the Data Domain, PowerProtect Data Domain, not with Dell PowerStore.

Windows, Linux, and some customers use Red Hat or SUSE. We have many operating systems working with Dell PowerStore in the same environments and data centers.

CloudIQ and Storage IQ are used by some customers, but Apex AIOps has not been widely adopted yet. Dell PowerStore has integration with VMware and Kubernetes. Most workloads work fine and have very good integration with Dell PowerStore, except for one or two specific workloads in the market.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Dell PowerStore a nine.

We mostly use Dell PowerStore to replace people's outdated technology. Most of the time, if it is Compellent, we use it for that. It easily outpaces Nimble, even though HPE changed its name.

We are using PowerStore 500T and PowerStore 1200T. We have multiple appliances. We have clients that have five and six now, but they are not clustering them.

We recommended Dell PowerStore to one of our clients. They have since standardized on Dell PowerStore. They are setting up a data center and chose Dell PowerStore 5200T to meet their needs. Their deployed ones were all 1200s or 1000s, and now, they are going with much bigger ones for the data center. They like having one interface and one vendor. It has been extremely good.

Overall, it is fairly straightforward. They have standardized the platform for many of their solutions because it makes it much easier to sell and support since PowerFlex and PowerStore have the same footprint. They just put a different OS on them. The standardization makes it very handy. They can hopefully drive the prices lower, but we do not see them having any competition right now.

The management is easy. Intelligence is built into it. Most of the people just set it and forget it. It takes care of itself. It adjusts itself. I am not saying that you should set it and forget it. You should be checking it once in a while, but most of our clients do not. They just set it, and if something goes drastic, such as running out of disk space, they call us, but it warns you early enough. They get a warning, and then it is just trying to get dry fast enough depending on what they are doing.

Compression has improved, which is one of the enhancements that came with an update, which is great. Dell now claims 5:1, which I do not believe, but it used to be 4:1. The compression is really good and extremely important because you do not have to buy too much, and you can grow it when you need to. Compression is probably the key feature that allows us to slay the competition. I am not aware of the competition having as aggressive compression.

PowerStore improves operational efficiency. Having the NVMe drives is much faster than having SSD drives. We are in a new world there, and the compression is inline, which is awesome. It is just a sweet ride.

We utilize PowerStore’s built-in integrations for VMware and Kubernetes or Containers. VMware integration is very important.

Updates come with enhancements. Each time we do an update, there is an enhancement, like new features, which is extraordinary. Other companies would try to charge for all that, but the enhancements just come with it. 

The maintenance is a bit expensive. The service and support are there for three years, but after the third year, it is pretty pricey for renewal. I hope Dell addresses that. Everything is pricey these days anyway. It is not like the old days of Compellent.

We used to be able to see the metrics for our customers. On Compellent, we could look up that customer and see all the metrics. That is not allowed for us now. We cannot do that anymore. I have to be explicitly allowed by the customer to do that, and some companies' security does not allow that.

I have used the solution for at least four, or maybe five, years.

The stability has been excellent. We have not had any issues with that. I have had a client that had a fire. It was a pretty bad smoke fire, and PowerStore came through it like a champ. It is still going. However, it needs to be replaced. It is on one processor until the insurance comes through. It is a 500T.

The scalability has been extremely good.

The customer service has been excellent. I would rate them a solid nine out of ten.

Positive

We have used different solutions. We moved to Dell PowerStore because it is easy.

If you look at the pricing in the field right now, are you going to buy a storage product from HPE that pretty much has a different engineer every week? Also, HPE makes their products in China, which Dell is not doing anymore. They got rid of making products in China. I believe the Dell PowerStore and PowerFlex are produced in the Northeast, so it is a US-based product. The components do not come from China. That is a very strong aspect. With the advent of AI, you need the IO that a PowerStore can give you because things are not getting any less complicated. They require more and more data every day.

The deployment is easy. With the tools that come with PowerStore, you can pretty much migrate from anything.

We are deployment-certified, and we can have everything done within two days. However, we are not Dell. We got ourselves deployment-certified because we wanted to save money on the deal, and we did not want to get sucked into the vortex of the deployment process because there is so much minutiae there.

We are a partner with Dell, and we advise our clients. We are technical advisors for our clients, and the good thing about us deploying is that we can migrate their setup over several weeks. They do not have to do it all at once like with Dell. 

The rate is always too high. Nobody likes paying for it. I have not seen a client yet who says that the price should be higher.

Initially, people look at it, but when they see what the benefits are, it is a no-brainer. We can give them good pricing at the outset.

I would rate Dell PowerStore a nine out of ten.